According to a recent survey carried out by Visa, a payments technology company, a majority of banked users in the country believe that plastic payment cards have better security than cash.
Visa, while summing up the survey’s findings, stated,
Among surveyed respondents, 56 percent of consumers find cards to be more secure than cash overall. The factors driving the security perception of cards include risk of theft when carrying cash (48 percent), swift resolution of security issues (45 percent), and cards are always replaceable in case of loss (44 percent).
Visa surveyed respondents across Pakistan to probe their experiences, approaches and actions with both online and in-store shopping. The study took place in February this year with 610 consumers from Karachi, Lahore, Islamabad/Rawalpindi participating in the survey.
The study also looked at customers’ security opinions of online dealings with 76% of participants saying they trusted online transactions with cards. Amongst the present online customers, 94% of them have a high trust at online transactions with cards but with non-online shoppers, only 54% trust them.
In its statement, Visa said,
Consumers prefer card payments over cash when shopping online because they feel that card is safer than cash (53 percent). They perceive cards to be a safe and secure way to pay (50 percent), and they see digital payments as the only mode of payment accepted by online merchants (45 percent). The most common type of cards used by online shoppers is debit cards (64 percent), followed by credit cards (55 percent), and prepaid cards (6 percent).
The study found that in the case of online payments, half the respondents prefer cards with 42% preferring pay cash on delivery. 85% of the participants said they would be open to online payments if they had a commitment that their data would be safe and 88% said they would do the same if guaranteed quick refund.
The survey found that 32% of participants knew about quick response (QR) payments with 18% having used it.
Factors such as more education on the usage of QR payments and reassurance from the bank on its security aspects are required to elevate consumers’ interest in adopting QR payments.
“At a time when businesses and consumers are becoming more digital and the impact of new technologies is felt by everyone everywhere, security must remain at the forefront. Pakistan has the potential to become one of the largest eCommerce markets in the world given the sector’s substantial growth in recent years. And for eCommerce to expand further consumers need to feel secure about using online platforms. One of the ways we are harnessing this growth potential is by continuing with our mission of educating consumers on digital payments and making them aware of the multi-layered security that is in place to protect their card data. This is also pertinent at a time when Pakistan is seeking to digitize its economy,” concluded Kamil Khan, Country Manager for Visa in Pakistan